"He gave me eye contact. And at that point, you know, not even thinking
about cameras or anything like that. That's my only son and at the end
of the day I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray," Toya Graham said,
referencing the 25-year-old man who died after mysteriously sustaining
severe spinal injuries in police custody earlier in the month. His death
has sparked protests throughout the city, with tensions boiling over Monday.

So if Toya Graham is the #BlackMotherofTheYear, what is Adrian Peterson? Remember him? Remember how the media and the ‪#‎NFL‬
reacted to him 'disciplining" his son? Remember his reasoning was that
it was done to him and he was trying to teach his son respect for
authority?

If Toya Graham is the #BlackMotherOfTheYear for giving her son a public smack down, does that make Ray Rice the #BlackHusbandOfTheYear? Remember him? Remember how the media and the NFL reacted to him decking his wife on camera?

Let us not forget the reason this young man was protesting, not to be confused with rioting, is
because‪#‎FreddieGray‬'s was arrested for making eye contact with the police, his neck was
snapped, his spine severed, he lapse into a coma, and died a week later.
So no, I am not celebrating the single mother of six who beat her son
like a slave on national TV. IMHO she is no different than Adrian
Peterson, Ray Rice, or the ‪‎Baltimore PD‬.
This is nothing more than a public beat down by proxy as the media looks on with glee.

Probable cause from a Baltimore police officer has always been a tenuous
thing. It’s a tenuous thing anywhere, but in Baltimore, in these high
crime, heavily policed areas, it was even worse. When I came on, there
were jokes about, “You know what probable cause is on Edmondson Avenue?
You roll by in your radio car and the guy looks at you for two seconds
too long.” Probable cause was whatever you thought you could safely lie
about when you got into district court.

It’s incredibly easy to offer simplistic solutions like “I wish more
parents were like the Mom in Yellow”. The complex issues that affect
the African American community aren’t so easily answered. Those issues
will continue to plague Baltimore and America forever. No amount of
“beating them before the cops do” is going to change the color of black
people’s skin.

2 comments:

I lived in Baltimore in 1968, and I remember well the terror of soldiers marching through the neighborhood "protecting" us white folks from looting and arson that was taking place miles away.

In at least one way it's worse now. Since then the police of all races have had a lot of practice calling teenagers with no place to go except the corners "toads" (not "hoppers" as they cleaned it up in the TV series The Wire). They called women like the one who chastised her son, endlessly looped on CNN, "toad mothers". I remember one righteous rant by Police Commissioner Tilghman (who was the Major in the Western District when he spoke out) admonishing his command to stop the namecalling. He was generally ignored or mocked behind his back. Tokenism being what it is, he was promoted and effectively silenced.

High schoolers today have seen 2 generations of adults trying to make positive changes against overwhelming economic odds, thousands of derelict buildings in their neighborhoods, and abusive systems of "justice" attempting to keep it all under control. Hormones rising, and concurrent lack of judgment led to a mob where anything can happen.

FYI, I have posted comments like this on social media, and the digital silence is deafening. My granddaughter, who lives in an all-white neighborhood miles from North and Pennsylvania, posted last night that National Guard troops are "protecting" a drugstore in her neighborhood. CNN is not covering the bullshit at all.

CNN and the other cable "news" outlets are a big part of the problem. Any media that dares report the facts is called liberal, like that's a bad thing, so they bend over backwards to adopt the Faux meme of being fair and balanced. Facts are not fair and balanced. It's either the truth or it's a lie. Instead of reporting facts, they would RATHER report a false narrative, designed to suit their partisan, political bias. This is also why diversity, or in this case, the lack of diversity in the media is shocking and awful. Thanks for your thoughtful response, for reading, commenting, and most of all caring.RedEye

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I didn't plan or want to start this blog. For three years years I had the privilege and honor of being a front pager at Left in Alabama. Friday, November 13,2009 was my unlucky day because my privileges were revoked. Prior to my privileges being revoked I was constantly being advised how to write, what to write, and finally informed if I wanted freedom of speech I needed to start my own blog.

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